Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, DC March 30, 1995
(Phone: 202/358-1779)
Dom Amatore
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL
(Phone: 205/544-6533)
RELEASE: 95-40
COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT SIGNED FOR X-34
NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, VA, have signed a
cooperative agreement to jointly develop a small, reusable space booster
-- the "X-34" -- which will serve as a test bed to demonstrate
reusable launch vehicle technology.
The X-34, with potential of becoming a commercial booster, is
expected to significantly reduce mission costs for 1,000 to 2,000-pound
payloads into low-Earth orbit. Flight tests for the X-34 are planned
for late 1997, with launch expected by mid-1998. At that time,
technology test bed applications will feed directly into plans for
developing a larger, next-generation reusable launch vehicle, the X-33.
Cooperative agreements for the X-33 were signed earlier this week.
NASA plans to provide $70 million to Orbital Sciences Corp. through
Fiscal Year 1999 for X-34 development. Orbital Sciences Corp. will
invest at least an equal amount of its funds in the joint endeavor.
The goal of the Reusable Launch Vehicle technology program is to
enable significant reductions in the cost of access to space, and to
promote the creation and delivery of new space services and other
activities that will improve U.S. economic competitiveness. The program
will implement the National Space Transportation Policy, issued by the
White House in 1994, and will accelerate the development of new launch
technologies and concepts to contribute to the continuing
commercialization of the national space launch industry.
NASA's Office of Space Access and Technology, Washington, DC,
manages the Reusable Launch Vehicle technology program. The Marshall
Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, is the host center for the X-34
program.
-end-
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